*Today Senator Rev. Raphael Warnock spoke with SiriusXM’s Joe Madison “The Black Eagle,” and said it was “irresponsible” for senators to head into a holiday recess without making progress on voting rights.
“Listen, politicians make a lot of promises when we’re running for office, but the only thing we swore to do was to defend the Constitution. And I’m not about to leave the Senate without doing everything I can this week to make sure that we protect the democracy. And so, today is Thursday, senators are typically making their airline reservations and folks are on their way home by Thursday night. I think it’s irresponsible for us to leave this weekend without at least a clear path and agreement about how we’re going to pass voting rights.”
The senator also spoke to Madison about the SiriusXM host’s ongoing hunger strike (currently on day 39) in support of voting rights reform, and also shared his thoughts on the filibuster:
“Can we have meaningful filibuster reform? Here’s what gives me hope. We did it just last week because we felt that the economy otherwise would be imperiled in such a way that for us not to act would be irresponsible. Well, we need a strong economy, but you cannot have a strong economy that works for everybody without a strong democracy that works for everybody.”
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[AUDIO AND TRANSCRIPTS]
Sen. Rev. Raphael Warnock Says it’s Irresponsible for Democrats Recess Without Voting Rights Plan
SENATOR REV. RAPHAEL WARNOCK: We must do whatever is necessary, and in this case, it is clear that if we are going to get voting rights passed and address the crisis confronting our democracy right now, Democrats will have to do it alone. And it’s irresponsible for us to do otherwise.
JOE MADISON, HOST: And we had Senator Kaine on who validated, or at least stated and you have validated what he said and I believe in our interview with him, he said that we gave the Republicans the opportunity to amend the bill if they wanted to. Didn’t hear anything to put a new bill in place. They didn’t give us one, so they clearly have decided to cast their lot with voter suppressionists.
SENATOR REV. RAPHAEL WARNOCK: Oh, that’s the sad truth, Joe. We are not in ordinary times and this is the fundamental problem. We cannot afford to behave as if these are ordinary times. We live in a post-January 6th world where we saw a violent assault on the Capitol based upon the premise that some votes don’t matter. And we have seen now that attack spread throughout state legislatures all across the United States of America. Voter suppression bills were introduced in some 49 states, and among the most concerning provisions are provisions like that one in my state of Georgia that would basically allow partisan politicians in the state legislature to swoop in and take over local boards of elections. It is a scary scenario under which it may not matter how many people we deliver to the polls because partisan actors are controlling the count. They are enabling themselves to do precisely what Brad Raffensperger, the Secretary of State of Georgia told Donald Trump he could not do last year. They are setting the framework to be able to do it. Listen, politicians make a lot of promises when we’re running for office, but the only thing we swore to do was to defend the Constitution. And I’m not about to leave the Senate without doing everything I can this week to make sure that we protect the democracy. And so, today is Thursday, senators are typically making their airline reservations and folks are on their way home by Thursday night. I think it’s irresponsible for us to leave this weekend without at least a clear path and agreement about how we’re going to pass voting rights.
source: SiriusXM and host Joe Madison “The Black Eagle” (weekdays from 6-10am ET on Urban View channel 126).
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